Shirley Chen, Narrativ founder, and CEO believed there’s a huge revenue prospect that’s gone mainly unexploited by online publishers — specifically, the links those publishers are previously using to direct readers to purchase the products pointed out in an article.
Without a doubt, affiliate links are a regular business model, where publishers catch a cut of the business that they’re sending to the retailer. Skimlinks and VigLink are some companies that computerize this procedure.
But Narrativ is doing something a bit different. It turns these links into an advertising unit called a SmartLink, where different retailers can bid in real-time for each click.
Including Talis Capital and New Enterprise Associates, the company has raised $3 million backing support from investors.
Chen, a former head of marketing at Moda Operandi, the e-commerce company backed by Condé Nast-owner Advance Publications and LVMH.She also worked as an intersection of commerce and media.She argued that SmartLinks are an extra effectual form of advertising than banner ads (which are intrusive and can be stripped out by ad blockers) and native advertising.
“Native advertising mimics real content,” Chen said. “Narrativ advertising is real content.”
Retailers, meanwhile, can run more sophisticated campaigns where they bid different amounts for different users who have different levels of exposure to the brand and product. (Chen contrasted that with the “last click” approach, where all the affiliate money goes to whoever drove the final click before purchase.) And since the bidding happens in at the moment of the click, they get to shun “link rot” when a product link alters.
In simpler words, the product doesn’t need writers and editors to do something different — it by design and robotically transforms the product links which were going to be part of their articles at any rate into SmartLinks. In the same way, the bidding and redirecting should come about invisibly as readers just click on the links which they would like.
In the meantime, Retailers can run further refined campaigns where they bid different amount for different users who have different levels of knowledge to the diversity and product.
Although Narrativ is officially coming out of slyness today, Chen proclaimed by now the product has been in testing phase with publishers like New York Magazine, which has seen the worth of its content clicks augment by 250%, and with retailers like Dermstore, which saw its revert to on investment increase by 67% year-over-year.
Other than plain vanilla links, Chen also declared that Narrativ facilitates with other units like product galleries. She added, the key is that it can’t be disturbing to the reader experience and knowledge.
